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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30033642">blue waves within the sea's cradle</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoelistic/pseuds/hoelistic'>hoelistic</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>NCT (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>2.8k of self-indulgence lmao, Alternate Universe - Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Boys Kissing, Drowning, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Fluff, Love at First Sight, M/M, Mentions of Death, Near Death Experiences, Surfer!Mark, fyi this is like the little mermaid kind of, mermaid!donghyuck</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-04-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 00:27:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,877</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30033642</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoelistic/pseuds/hoelistic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>At the age of 20, mermaid prince Donghyuck thinks about the little boy who he saved from drowning and entrusted his pearl tear with so many years ago. Donghyuck doesn't think that he'll ever get to meet him ever again, but destiny proves him wrong.</p><p>Or a Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch au where Donghyuck wishes to meet the human boy who complimented his singing once again.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>339</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Challenge #6 — In Another Life, THE COLLECTION</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>blue waves within the sea's cradle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Donghyuck realizes that his crush is a bit unusual for someone of his species.</p><p>He’s a boy with purple hair and a glimmering tail to match that shines brighter than the rainbow misted cumulous clouds above him dancing in the azure sky above, but it doesn’t guarantee that he would fall in love with another merman like himself. </p><p>Granted, there are not many merpeople Donghyuck’s able to meet because of how transitory their lives are and how few mermen princes exist too. One prince for each ocean and Jaemin already snagged up two mermen princes to be his boyfriends— so that Donghyuck’s dating pool is even smaller.</p><p>And being the prince of the North Pacific Ocean meant that Donghyuck was always on the run from creatures and humans who attempted to exploit the power of his voice. It’s said that Donghyuck’s voice could control the ocean; in reality, it’s just another silly merpeople legend that makes Donghyuck perpetually single.</p><p>But that one encounter at the age of 10 was enough for Donghyuck’s heart to continue fixated on a human boy to whom he gave his pearl tear. And he continued longing to meet the boy again.</p><p>Of course, Donghyuck never told anyone about the human boy who captured his heart. If Donghyuck did, he risked having all of his memories about the boy erased from his mind, for being foolish enough to give away something as important as his pearl tear— the family heirloom necessary for Donghyuck to ascend his throne. </p><p>In the eyes of his kingdom, Donghyuck committed a serious offense for falling in love with a human who could easily betray him, for someone that didn’t guarantee loyalty to anyone other than his kind. Humans were interesting that way. Never caring about any other living creature other than themselves.</p><p>Donghyuck decided to swim along Jeju Island that summer when he was 10, wanting to see what all the fuss was about. Jaemin told him it was one of the most beautiful places in the world, dandelions flying everywhere, little clouds of white fluff deciding to travel along with the wind, allowing everyone to gently caress them in the palm of their hands. And it’s also an island familiar with the legend of the merpeople, the fishermen, and townspeople peacefully co-existing with them.</p><p>“There’s no danger there,” Jaemin tells Donghyuck. “If anything, I think the people living there are waiting for us to come back and share our songs with them again.”</p><p>Donghyuck ends up singing the night he arrives at Jeju Island. He sings all of the songs his caretakers used to sing to him when he was still a purple pearl preparing to meet the world for the first time. Old songs about how merpeople used to tread the water with ease before having to worry about humans capturing them and exploiting the ocean with their long nets that left Donghyuck’s home barren and unsafe. </p><p>“You sing pretty,” Donghyuck hears a voice say and he turns around at the sound, hand placed on his heart to calm it down. Donghyuck hadn’t expected anyone to spot him in the dead of night, and he’s heard stories about how conniving and cruel humans can be to merpeople.</p><p>Donghyuck’s been told that the death of the previous North Pacific Ocean prince had been at the hands of a human who he trusted with all of his being. That the poor merboy truly loved the fisherman with all of his heart, believing that one day he would be able to trade his purple fishtail for legs and finally indulge in a love that was as expansive as the ocean he governed. </p><p>Donghyuck doesn’t think that his predecessor was a fool for giving away his heart. </p><p>Love isn’t something that can be quantified or guaranteed a happy ending like all of the legends that the ocean sings and carries along with its currents. There’s nothing guaranteed in life other than dying and being reborn again as the next prince of the North Atlantic Ocean, so why not that the last page of the fairy tale will be rewritten and changed into a happy ending? </p><p>Then again, Donghyuck, like every other North Pacific Ocean prince, is born a romantic and of course he would think that way; the large capacity to love is inherited along with the pearl tear that North Pacific Ocean princes hold in their hands the moment they’re born.</p><p>The compliment comes from a boy around his age, maybe one year older at most. Large liquid brown eyes and dark hair blending into the night. Faintly dusting his cheeks is a light pink hue, most likely from the cold. Humans weren’t meant to be in the ocean this long and especially on a night like this.</p><p>“Do you need help?” The boy asks, voice coming out high and squeaky instead of strong and commanding like he most likely intended for it to. Donghyuck can see the pink on the boy’s cheeks flare up to an even deeper color.</p><p>Donghyuck simply smiles at him, resisting the urge to make a joke. As a prince, he’s been taught to behave better. “No, I’m good. The water feels nice, and I can’t exactly climb up.”</p><p>He waves his purple tail, splashing the water with it.</p><p>“You’re a mermaid?” The boy gasps.</p><p>“More like merboy,” Donghyuck corrects.</p><p>“Oh sorry, merboy,” the boy repeats.</p><p>“Don’t worry about it, most people use mermaid. I’ve heard it’s because of a movie the uh…”</p><p>“The Little Mermaid,” the boy provides.</p><p>“Yeah! That’s the one. But there’s plenty of mermaids and mermen, merboys and mergirls too.”</p><p>“Are they all as pretty as you are?”</p><p>It takes 5 seconds after the boy says that to make Donghyuck feverously blush as deep as the coral reefs that lace the oceans he’s traveled through. Donghyuck slaps his cheeks to snap out of it. He can’t develop a crush on a stranger so quickly, even if the human boy seemed very sweet. No, Donghyuck wasn’t going to allow himself to continue getting flustered by sweet words. </p><p><em> Donghyuck</em>, he yells at himself. <em>Yes, you’re the North Atlantic prince and of course, you’ll fall in love easily, but don’t like…actually like do it ya’ know?</em></p><p>After recollecting himself, Donghyuck answers, “Of course they are. All merpeople are special in their way. You just haven’t meet any other than me yet.”</p><p>“Oh,” the boy replies. “That makes sense. Are you going to continue singing?”</p><p>“Do you want me to continue singing?” Donghyuck asks and he’s met with a quick nod.</p><p>“Yeah. I don’t really like parties because I don’t even have friends to play with. But your singing makes the waiting feel less lonely.”</p><p>Donghyuck laughs, high and melodic, feeling his ears burning up. “I don’t see why not. I’m Donghyuck before I forget.”</p><p>“I’m Mark,” the boy cheers, beginning to rest his face and arms along the railing to hear Donghyuck sing.</p><p>It’s too bad that Donghyuck never gets to learn more about Mark after introducing himself. </p><p>As soon as he began to sing one of his lullabies, a flash of lightning fell over the ocean. From experience, Donghyuck knew that this wasn’t a good sign. </p><p>He’s seen many cruise ships crash and sink because of how temperamental the sky was. The ocean may have forgiven humans for their constant conquest of its inhabitants and permitted travel in its domain again, but the sky was never as forgiving. The sky didn’t always strike, only when it saw an opportunity. </p><p>Before Donghyuck’s eyes, the cruise ship begins setting aflame, its white façade becoming scorned with dirty ash and red flames so bright that he thinks that the orange sun is setting again against a sky of dark purple and twinkling white stars.</p><p>A clap of thunder strikes and Donghyuck glances around to see Mark falling out of the cruise ship. Courage quickly surfaces from the crevices of Donghyuck’s heart and he quickly dives down in search of Mark, the boy who made his heart flutter.</p><p>With every stroke he made, it seemed that Mark was being dragged down by the gravity more and more, and Donghyuck felt fear crawling in his stomach, making each tail wave more reckless and frantic. </p><p>He didn’t have much time left to save Mark at this rate. Each torrent only threatened to fill up Mark’s lungs even more with seawater, to the point where it would be nearly impossible to resuscitate him again.</p><p>Fortunately, the ocean is always kind to those who never mean it harm, and Donghyuck is finally able to get a hold of one of Mark’s hands. </p><p>Knowing that another second could mean death for Mark, Donghyuck gently presses his lips against Mark, just enough to allow him to catch his breath again before dragging Mark up to the surface.</p><p>Taking Mark back on land was harder than Donghyuck thought it would be. Extremely unpleasant, to say the least.</p><p>He had to turn his tail into legs to fully propel Mark forward onto a safe space. Donghyuck deemed the slippery rocks too dangerous to leave a poor human boy resting on in the hopes that another human would find him.</p><p>Donghyuck gently tucks one of Mark’s hair strands behind his ears, tracing his features with one of his fingers. It’s strange how familiar Mark feels, despite having known him for only an hour at most. He takes in the soft features of the boy’s nose and mouth and sees his dark hair shining underneath the moonlight. </p><p>This leaves Donghyuck wondering if Mark would ever remember him after this night, but he considers it an impossibility considering the little time they spent together.</p><p>Donghyuck would love to stay here longer and wait until Mark woke up, but he couldn’t risk another person seeing him again, as much as he trusted Mark and the Jeju Island inhabitants. There wasn’t a guarantee the other cruise ship people were kind, so Donghyuck settles for leaving behind his pearl tear with Mark.</p><p>If it was destiny, after all, they would meet again and Mark would give back Donghyuck’s pearl.</p><p> </p><p>─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───</p><p> </p><p>At 20, Donghyuck finds himself in Hawaii. </p><p>Not because he wants to, but because Donghyuck’s told that he needs to present his pearl tear at his coming-of-age ceremony. There’s nothing special about his pearl if Donghyuck’s honest with everyone. It’s supposed to fine-tune his singing skills, but he already had a natural affinity for singing and is able make do without it. </p><p>Unfortunately, traditions, no matter how old and outdated he found them, had to be kept. This is why Donghyuck’s in Hawaii, diving and traveling through the coral reefs.</p><p>Donghyuck’s heard that in Hawaii some clams can produce pearls of all sorts of colors, from pink to green because of a phenomenon he couldn’t quite remember— Donghyuck wasn’t the type to listen in school, preferring to daydream about anything else but his mandatory studies.</p><p>Unfortunately for Donghyuck, he’s stuck in the same predicament as when he was 10. Saving another human from drowning, or in this case, hoping that the man falling and being dragged by the ocean’s gravitation isn’t dead yet— for a merman that’s only met a couple of humans before, Donghyuck was far more compassionate than he should be. </p><p>Then again, he wouldn’t be the North Pacific Ocean prince if he didn’t love everyone and wanted the best for them, would he?</p><p>Without a second thought, Donghyuck swims towards the drowning man, catching the man with the caudal fin at the end of his tail and propelling the man towards his chest. Arms heavy, Donghyuck pushes them both upwards with his tail, both their heads popping out of the ocean waves.</p><p>A glance to the right makes it known to Donghyuck that the young man was a surfer. The man’s surfboard was still floating and not yet been taken along with the strong currents created by the storm surge earlier that day. </p><p>Donghyuck scoffs. </p><p>Once again, humans not knowing their limits and chasing after waves far too strong for their bodies. He thinks that they needed to conduct more classes on how to surf safely if they didn’t have them already. Not all merpeople were as empathetic as him whenever they saw a drowning human. </p><p>Guilt doesn’t always swallow up within their chests because of how unkind humans have been to the creatures merpeople have considered their friends— so they relish in what little vengeance they can enact without raising any suspicion of their existence.</p><p>Donghyuck leans over the man, quickly scrutinizing him. His hair was dyed a chestnut brown and the baby fat on his cheeks was slowly disappearing into sharp cheekbones with matching heart-shaped lips. On his body a second skin of red and black cloth, his wet bodysuit. But what captures Donghyuck’s interest the most is the man’s necklace. </p><p>A simple gold chain with a light purple pearl at the end.</p><p>Instinct takes over Donghyuck’s mind and he comes even closer, fingers gently feeling the purple pearl. </p><p>Before Donghyuck can take in the possibility of the pearl being the same one he gave away, the man shoots straight up, hand immediately grabbing hold of Donghyuck’s.</p><p>“You shouldn’t touch what isn’t yours,” the man says with an undercurrent of anger.</p><p>“For someone who was about to drown, you don’t seem grateful to your savior,” Donghyuck immediately retorts, already beginning to regret saving the surfer. </p><p><em> Humans were insufferable after all, huh? He could at least say thank you</em>, Donghyuck sneers. <em>I should have listened to Jaemin</em>. <em>I can already hear him say I told you so. </em></p><p>The surfer blushes and rubs the nape of his neck, “I’m sorry, it’s just that this pearl is really important to me, so I’m rather sensitive about it being touched by a stranger.”</p><p>“Hi, I’m Donghyuck,” Donghyuck introduces himself, hands resting on his chin and tail waving for him. A bit too hard though. He ends up accidentally splashing and drenching the surfer even more with seawater. “We’re not strangers anymore.”</p><p>“Wait…you’re…” the surfer begins, eyes opening wide. “I remember you…you’re the merboy who saved me all of those years ago.”</p><p>Mark, the little boy Donghyuck saved all of those years ago. <em>It couldn’t be…could it? </em></p><p>“I’ve been looking for you all over,” Mark continues with a small smile and it's a smile that Donghyuck’s remembered for so long now in every dream he's had all of these past years now. “I’ve been wanting to give this back to you ever since you saved me.”</p><p>“You have?” Donghyuck blinks in surprise. He never would have expected that he had that much of an impact on Mark— even if he did save Mark’s life.</p><p>“Yeah,” Mark says. “I’ve always wanted to thank you properly.”</p><p>“Don’t worry about it too much,” Donghyuck waves him off with a grin, but his tail gives him away. It twists from side to side. “I would have done it again without a second thought, which I did by the way.”</p><p>“But you didn’t kiss me this time,” Mark blurts out and he quickly covers his mouth after realizing what he just said. “I mean…I.”</p><p>Oh.</p><p><em> Oh</em>.</p><p>So, these past 10 years Mark thought about him too? It wasn’t just a silly one-sided crush in the— wait. Wait a minute.</p><p>Donghyuck climbs on the rock where he placed Mark, the purple scales covering his tail starting to shimmer in the evening sunlight in yellows and oranges. He kneels to Mark’s level, leaning in closer, fingers running up the curves of his thighs to his waist and up more until the pads of his fingers are touching Mark’s jawline.</p><p>As he begins to cup Mark’s face, Donghyuck asks, “How did you know we kissed when I was trying to save you?”</p><p>“I…I’m…” Mark stutters, the apple of his cheeks becoming red.</p><p>“Do you want me to give you a demonstration of how I saved you all those years ago and help you jog up your memory?” </p><p>“Yeah,” Mark murmurs, quickly averting Donghyuck’s gaze.</p><p>It doesn’t take long for Donghyuck to close the gap between them. Donghyuck tugs at the hair on the nape of Mark’s neck, just enough to keep him balanced on the slippery rock they’re sitting on. Mark’s hands find themselves wrapped around Donghyuck’s waist along the way as if they were meant to be there all along.</p><p>They kiss softly, with Mark’s tongue tasting salty, but it doesn’t really come as a surprise to Donghyuck; Mark did drown earlier. But despite the salty after taste, Mark was a good kisser, and his lips were soft too. Everything just felt right when he kissed Mark. And hopefully, the next time they kissed, Donghyuck would have a better feel for what Mark tasted like.</p><p>“For a human, you’re not a bad kisser,” Donghyuck says as he pulls away from Mark.</p><p>Mark laughs. “Does that mean I’m a good catch then?”</p><p>“Well, if you give me back my pearl I’ll consider kissing you again.”</p><p>And then Mark smiles again, brighter than the first time they met. “Sounds like a good deal to me.”</p><p>He leans forward and captures Donghyuck’s lips again, this time tasting a little less like sea salt. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>please leave comments and kudos if u liked this fic </p><p>Find me here:<br/><a href="https://twitter.com/_ourloveispink">twitter</a><br/><a href="https://curiouscat.qa/hoelistic98">cc</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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